Tips for Tracing

Tracing Is a Tool, Not a Dirty Word

Somewhere along the way, a lot of us picked up the idea that tracing is somehow “cheating.” It isn't. Tracing is simply a method of transferring an image—and it can also be an excellent way to practice line control, proportion, shape recognition, and hand-eye coordination.

The important distinction is what you're using it for. Tracing someone else's artwork doesn't magically make that artwork yours, particularly if you intend to publish or sell the result. But tracing your own sketches, public-domain material, appropriately licensed references, or images you have permission to use can be enormously useful.

And when you're learning? Following an existing line can help your hand begin to understand movements that your eye already recognizes.

Three Easy Ways to Trace

Use a bright window. Tape your reference to the glass, place your drawing paper over it, and lightly follow the visible lines. It's wonderfully low-tech and works surprisingly well with thinner paper.

Use a light pad. If you trace frequently, an inexpensive light pad makes the process considerably easier and lets you work comfortably at a table.

Use transfer paper. Place transfer paper between your reference and drawing surface and carefully follow the lines of the original. This is particularly useful when the final paper is too thick for light to pass through.

Whatever method you choose, keep the transferred lines light. They're guides, not necessarily part of the finished artwork.

Try It: Trace It, Then Draw It

Choose a simple object—a mushroom, leaf, bird, teacup, key, flower, or pumpkin.

Trace it once.

While tracing, pay attention to the direction your hand moves. Notice where curves change direction, where lines become straighter, and how individual shapes connect.

Now put the tracing away.

Beside it, try drawing the same object freehand.

Don't expect an exact copy. That's not the exercise.

Compare the two and look for the parts you understood better after tracing them. Perhaps the curve of the handle makes more sense now, or you noticed that a leaf isn't actually symmetrical.

That observation is the useful part.

Use Tracing to Build Something New

Tracing becomes especially interesting when you stop thinking of it as a way to reproduce an entire picture.

Trace individual elements from material you're entitled to use and experiment with arranging them into a new composition. Move a flower. Reverse a leaf. Repeat a shape. Add your own background. Enlarge one element and shrink another.

Or trace one of your own sketches, then use the copy to experiment.

Color one version for autumn. Make another nocturnal. Try a limited palette on a third. Add a background to one and leave another simple.

You've preserved your original drawing while creating several laboratories for experimentation.

A Note About Pressure

One of the most common tracing mistakes is pressing too hard.

Heavy pressure can leave grooves in your final paper. Those indentations may become painfully obvious later when colored pencil skips across them.

Use the lightest pressure that still allows you to see your transferred line. Once you're happy with the drawing, soften unnecessary graphite with an eraser before you begin coloring.

Your finished artwork shouldn't have to fight its construction lines.

Mini Challenge: Half Traced, Half Freehand

Choose a reasonably symmetrical subject such as a butterfly, beetle, flower, vase, mask, or simple building.

Trace only one half.

Then complete the other half by observation.

This is a great bridge between following an existing line and creating one yourself—and the two sides don't have to match perfectly. Nature isn't particularly obsessed with perfect symmetry either.

Edenglow Studio Tip

Use tracing to study a line, not merely to copy it.

Ask yourself why the line curves, where it changes direction, and what shape it creates. The more consciously you trace, the less you'll eventually need to.

And with that, Getting Started is complete.